Thanksgiving and weirdness

I forget how many turkeys I've done now in my {short} life. I think this is the 3rd full-size and I've also done one breast. Baking a Thanksgiving turkey gives me this huge sense of accomplishment - much like music, yoga, work, child birth... {I'm still laughing on that last one. Hope you are, too!}
Anyhow, sis, bro-in-law, and us three celebrated Turkey Day together and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. I was fresh off a plane from Boston so I was fearful that I'd forget to buy something. Thankfully, I had a brief day to go shopping and Sis and I ended up with WAY more than we needed. Sis and I baked and cooked and had loads of laughs in the kitchen. I think BIL {that's bro-in-law for those that don't handle acronyms well} is still amazed at just how much butter went into this bird.

The finished product. And yes - she was a very juicy bird.

Is it weird that I like to take pictures of the turkeys I bake? Oh - and please note that the wedding china made an appearance. I think this is only the second or maybe third time we've eaten off of it. {Mental note - must do more entertaining.}

My daughter likes to take pictures with food, too. {Ok - I admit I may have lured her into this, but you all needed to see this turkey from the 'best' angle.}

The best Black Friday purchase = NEW VACUUM. I'm weird. I know. But - I've needed a new vacuum and this baby was the one I wanted. Funny story:

1) It was NOT on sale at Sears.

2) It WAS on sale at Sears.com.

3) I bought it IN STORE at an ONLINE kiosk. Site-to-Store. One word - awesome.

4) Saved about 50%! YAY!

{Please ignore the array of toys in the floor, on the couch, on the coffee table, etc. Mads likes to make sure there are multiple toy options at ALL times.} And I've now met my quota on ALL CAPS. :)

And now that Blogger has decided to randomly double-space my entry. I shall leave you with this quote:

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

Little Sooner

Hello blog land. It's been a while. That's what happens when life gets in the way. ;0)
Madelyn went to her second OU game in November and she really did great, considering kick-off was during her normal nap time. She did fall asleep on me in the stadium, which wore me out trying to hold all of that limp weight. She loved watching The Pride play their pre-game concert on campus corner and getting to see the ponies and Schooner. Not sure that we'll take her again to a game that kicks-off during nap time, but she's definitely becoming quite the Sooner fan!

She was WAY more interested in seeing the ponies than sitting with the Roughneck Queen. Can't say I blame her.


Showing off our #1 fingers! BOOMER!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere

We've been to this pumpkin patch every year since Madelyn was born. It's our tradition now.
Some things we like about it:
1) It's FREE! Free Parking. Free rides. Free bounce houses. Free photo ops. Free fun! The only thing you pay for are the pumpkins or snacks.
2) They take canned good donations for a local food pantry.
3) Everyone on the staff is so friendly.
4) We always have a great time, no matter how crowded it is.
5) It's near one of our favorite restaurants (see previous post) and we're making that a tradition, too!

Checking out all of the little pumpkins in the 'pumpkin house.'

"What?! You want me to touch one of these muddy, gross pumpkins?"



That's more like it. What a sweet little expression!

Happy Halloween from all of us!

Two

The table decorations and fun cupcakes we made. M had some great party helpers this year - thanks to everyone!

This girl could live on juice - especially if Big Bird is on the box. And no, she's not dressed in only a hawaiian lei. But she REALLY liked wearing several at a time!

Playing a fun beachball game. Yep - we made it up on the fly. One creative family! {And I found the beachballs on sale for 50% off! We already had the large beach towel.}

Opening presents. She was definitely excited about her party moreso this year than last year. She would say "Oh boy! Oh boy!" over and over again. Her voice is the sweetest. :)

Telling her about her presents. She was very excited about all of the gifts and so were her friends! They were all so cute and sweet. {Side note: it appears I am growing a balloon string out of my nose. Hehehehehe!}

We're horrible about remembering to take pictures, and thus - this is probably the only and best picture of momma & M on her birthday. Dang balloon ribbon. {I guess this means I need to hone my Photoshop skills.}

M & her "boyfriend." He was the only guest she cared about being at her party. And she's looking forward to his party, too! They used to go to daycare together and are only a month apart in age. Two little sweeties!

Everyone's favorite gift - M's new play kitchen. The boys were showing her how to use all of her gadgets and knobs. So funny!

{Another side note: Blogger and I are not getting along right now. It's not playing nice with spacing out my pictures the way I would like it to. Grrrrrrr.....}

Who swims like a little fish?

I know all of you blog addicts are anxiously awaiting someone's 2nd birthday pics, but we're still playing "catch up" around here, so you'll have to wait a little longer. :)


After loads of researching and collecting opinions, we're doing swim lessons with Emler Swim School this summer. These photos are from her second class (once a week for 11 weeks!) She's now going underwater for 5 seconds and the goal by the last class is underwater for 10 seconds. She loves her class and her teacher. She acts very confident - maybe a little TOO confident - everytime she's in the pool. We're very pleased with how it's going and love our little fish!

Waving 'hi' to Daddy on the sidelines.


Working with the barbell floaties. These are her favorite!

Rockin' the pigtails!

The 'bye-bye song' - complete with a jump to Mommy.

Seven Falls - Colorado

We took a trip to Colorado two weeks ago and really enjoyed the chance to get away and just be a couple. Our first day (after the flight) was spent at Seven Falls. Here's a taste of the incredible beauty. Yes - we climbed up and down that crazy "staircase" on the left side of this picture. 225 steps each way. Oh dear....


This was at the top of the stairs. Don't remember the name of this particular waterfall. They all had silly names.


Sunlight dancing in the leaves.


A pretty chilled out couple if you ask me. {Not a great photo, but you take what you get when someone else uses your fancy camera.}

C is for Cookie, L is for Love

When it snowed right before Valentine's Day, Madelyn and I were home alone while Jonathan was out working. So, since she and I were getting a little tired of sitting around the house, and I'm not afraid of driving in snow (thanks to having lived in the upper Midwest) we headed to the local grocery store for a few things - namely COOKIE DOUGH!

I had some sprinkles left from last year {do those things expire???} We decided to make some yummy cookies for all of us to munch on before we went out of town for the weekend.


She got the hang of it pretty fast. She pressed the tops in the sprinkles and I rolled the edges in the same sprinkle mixture.


A close-up of our hard work...


She and I really had so much fun. There's nothing quite like a little "Mommy and Me" time. {Do you see the snow in the windows back there?}

The finished product. She was super-excited to see them come out of the oven. And they were sooooo tasty! We'll have to do more baking together!

Time flies and so do little girls

The days have zipped right along here.

Madelyn helped decorate for Christmas.She also went flying and hit her teeth on our headboard. There's even a mark left on the headboard! She cried and cried a lot. But didn't bleed nor lose any teeth. We may have lucked out on this little accident. Fingers-crossed that it doesn't become infected.

Madelyn had her last music class for the semester...

Even Mommy & Daddy enjoyed a night away for a company Christmas party in downtown!
And a big congratulations to Daddy for passing his Professional Engineering Exam! Woohoo!!

Trick or Treat

This year was Madelyn's first time to Trick or Treat. She did great and quickly learned the routine. Now, any office with candy dishes seems like an opportunity to trick or treat!

This house had full size candy bars! This girl knew exactly what to do - one for her and one for mommy! That's my girl!

Odds and Ends

Sorry it's been a while.
What's new? Ear infection #7 I think. I don't know. Maybe #8? I lost count. No matter how hard you try - they'll always find a way to catch something.
Antibiotics. Ibuprofen. Humidifier. We know the drill.
However, we've had some fun over the past few weeks before this new infection hit.
We went to the pool a few weekends ago. Before all this rain and cooler weather started.
She chills in her starfish like a professional now.


Madelyn and Daddy played in the Dora Ball Pit. :)


We all went to Chuckee Cheese for a friend's birthday party. It was pretty crowded, but we still found some games and rides for Madelyn to enjoy.
Honing her Skeeball skills early!


Riding a giant motorized rocking horse. Please notice her tickets in her left hand. She would not let go of those things for anything!

Trying her hand at Whack-A-Mole.

And on our first "girls only morning" with Daddy in class, we had fun!

Ice cream before dinner

Around this house, we like our Blue Bell. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to the day when we go visit the creamery in Brenham. I'm pretty sure I might be their biggest fan {although I might like all of their flavors if they would just eliminate the whole fruit-in-ice-cream thing.} Anyway...

Madelyn's last day at her very first daycare *sniff, sniff* was on Friday. This is huge because the most wonderful three women took care of her for over 9 months! We're missing them already, but are hopeful that this new place will be great and help her make some friends close to home. So, to celebrate her last day and because I can never say no to ice cream, we had some ice cream {with sprinkles!!} BEFORE dinner. I know - I'm setting a terrible example, creating a monster, etc, etc... You can punish us both because we loved every minute of it!